SMG and Sports Insight join to form SMG Sports

July 2009

Starcom MediaVest Group UK - part of the Publicis Groupe – and the sports media consultancy, Sports Insight, have joined forces to create a new venture, SMG Sports.

SMG Sports launches as a media-led sports sponsorship consultancy, combining high-level media intelligence and communications planning with sports marketing expertise. Its six-strong team is headed jointly by former Manchester United business development manager, Vange Kourentis and Starcom MediaVest Group Director, Elliot Parkus.

Starcom MediaVest Group’s clients include some of the biggest brands marketing in sports, such as Emirates, Samsung and BUPA. This new venture will service clients from both the Starcom and MediaVest sides of the business and has been developed to deliver impartial integrated sponsorship advice ranging from top-end rights identification and negotiation to on-the-ground implementation.

Sports Insight is the consulting and advisory arm of Investors in Media, which also owns the sports media rights specialist, Sports Revolution. CIA-founder Chris Ingram was recently named as Executive Chairman of Sports Revolution and is also Chairman of Investors in Media.

Stewart Easterbrook, CEO, Starcom MediaVest Group comments: “SMGSports will allow us to strengthen our offering for brands targeting sport. We expect increasing demand for complex and highly integrated sports media campaigns, and this venture adds real value in this still under-developed area of media.”

Vange Kourentis comments: “In the run-up to London 2012, more advertisers are turning their attention to sports marketing. However, many sports sponsorship strategies are an inexact science, executed without proper planning and integration into a wider communications programme. SMG Sports will put intelligence and integration into the mix, allowing brand owners to extract the maximum value from their sports investments.”